Christian Cyclopedia

(Guahan). Organized unincorporated US territory. Southernmost is. of Mariana* Is.Area:ca. 212 sq.mi.; Natives are basically of Indonesian stock. Probably discovered 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan (ca. 14801521; Port. navigator sailing for the Spanish), who is said to have named it Ladrones (thieves, perhaps in reference to behavior of natives); formally claimed by Sp. 1565; ceded to US 1898 at end of Sp.-Am. War, occupied 1899; occupied by Jap. 1941; retaken by US 1944. Official language: English. RC (now ca. 95%) 1668; others have included Assemblies of God, Prot.Episc.Ch., Seventh-day Adv., SBap. Convention. The LCA began work in the early 1970s.